Color can be specified in RGB, CMYK, and Pantone (PMS), but when color is critical, we prefer PMS hands down. Here’s why…
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RGB (Digital Color) is meant for digital design, the colors you see on your computer screen, television, and mobile devices, not printing. Because RGB colors (Red, Green, Blue) are created by blending light, rather than ink, the colors you see on your computer screen will print with much less vibrancy and accuracy when printed.
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CMYK (Process Color) is the standard four ink colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key or Black) mixed by most printers to produce the desired color. The tricky part about CMYK is consistency. The same CMYK values can look different when printed on different devices, as well as different papers.
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PMS® (Spot Color) stands for Pantone® Matching System, a defined set of colors that can be matched time after time. Using our custom color profiles, we can consistently print most PMS colors to be visually similar from device to device, and on any substrate. If your red is PMS 185, our output will look virtually the same on our vinyls as it does on our poster papers.
Converting your files to the right color space before you send them to us to print saves you time, money and accuracy. If you’re having difficulties, reach out, and we can help you optimize your files for the best print output.
Tip: It’s important to note that most Microsoft Office products do not support PMS, or even CMYK color output. If you’re producing your artwork in Word or even Publisher, you’re likely exporting pdfs using RGB color space by default.
